FBI Arrest Two for Spying

Apr. 5, 1965 - The FBI today arrested two men, one a former Pentagon courier, and charged them with having sold defense secrets to the Soviet Union.

The secrets were said to have included information on U.S. missile sites, military installations, and intelligence activities in this country and abroad.

According to the charges, one of the men, Robert Lee Johnson (top), was recruited by the Russians in 1953 in Berlin when he was stationed there. He later became a courier in Washington.

Johnson was said to have recruited an accomplice, James Mintkenbaugh (bottom), in the Army who, after his discharge in 1956, received espionage training in Moscow on codes, secret writing, microdots, and photography.

The FBI said both men had admitted involvement in espionage for pay. The men named in the complaint were:— Robert Lee Johnson, 46, formerly a sergeant, who was court-martialed last December for his absence without leave from a Pentagon courier assignment. He was fined and reduced to the rank of corporal.

— James Allen Mintkenbaugh, 46, who was said to have studied espionage in Moscow. He is a former Arlington, Va., real estate man who moved to San Mateo, Calif.

Justice Department spokesmen said Mintkenbaugh, a bachelor, was arrested near his home in San Martin, Calif.

Agents arrested Johnson, normally assigned to Fort McNair in the District of Columbia, while he was on an errand at the Pentagon. He was arraigned before U.S. Commissioner Thomas Moncure, who set bond at $20,000. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Apr. 15.

According to the complaint, Johnson, while assigned to the Berlin command headquarters, photographed classified documents in the intelligence section and had the films delivered to Soviet agents in East Berlin.

In June or July 1953, he recruited Mintkenbaugh to help him, and they had regular contacts with a Soviet agent.

Johnson discharged from the Army in July 1956, re-enlisted in February 1957, for the specific purpose of continuing his espionage work, it is charged. Assigned to a Nike missile site in Los Angeles, he photographed technical manuals and parts of the site and had the film delivered by Mintkenbaugh, who then was a civilian, the complaint said.

Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s